Drama level
Started out light, but turned into a bit of a sobby romance.

Eye candy

• Daniel Henney (as Philip)

Love shape
Square (two guys in love with the same girl, another girl in love with one of the guys)

The variables
World renowned pianist, diplomat adoptive parents, Philip the lovely half Korean hunk, crazy music producer ex-girlfriend, a case of identity substitution, Austria, beautiful islands off Korea and a pink truck.

The hiccups
Crazy music producer chick who falls in love with him.
Immense guilt for living someone else’s life, and for causing heroine’s mother’s death.
Politics.

The quirks
Lovely soundtrack. The title track is soothing and pretty, and since the dude’s a pianist, there’s a lot of that playing in the background. Lovely Daniel gets to pretend to play the piano as well, and he looks so much hotter doing so than the main dude (who’s kind of scowley).

The plot
It’s complicated. But the beginning was set in Austria in the winter, and the middle bits (the childhood bits) were set on Cheongsan-do (very pretty). So ruffian’s father causes the death of sweethearts mother, and boy has to let himself get adopted so sweetheart can get surgery. He grows up thinking she died, but is unable to forget her.

He meets her later, but what ensues are obstacles one after another.

Read more.

Final rating: 4/5. Loved the music, loved the scenery, love Daniel Henney, the storyline isn’t too bad, the main actor reminds me of a former co-worker from Hong Kong turned world-traveller and Flickr fan, the chick is cute. But I mostly watched it to see Daniel Henney – even better when he breaks out in Korean.

It’s got Daniel Henney all over it. The hawt-stuff from My Name is Kim Sam Soon (aka My Lovely Sam Soon).

Anyway. Can’t stop watching Spring Waltz, he’s trying to speak Korean, and it’s so cute. So the cute factor lasts all of a day until I go and IMDb/Hancinema him (again), and get my heart broken all over (again). He was born in 1979.

Sigh.

And just about then I realise I checked it out before, and I felt this depressed as well. But hey, with that superwink killer smile, you just forget everything and get intoxicated all over (again).

Ahhh… the wonders of mixing genes pools.

• Ulji-ro Co-op Residence
  So despite the crazy crowds and if you don’t really mind roughing it out a little – that means not expecting hotel quality service (little toilettries, a luxury room with a view, pretty cleaned up part of town, room service, the service staff to clean your room thoroughly every day) then something like the Co-op Residence do nicely. Hey, how can we argue with free high speed internet access and really smart storage devices? It’s got a great location – five minutes away from the Dongdaemun Stadium Interchange Station, five minutes away from malls like Doota and Miliore, seven minutes away from PyongHwa Market, and just upstairs from back alley local restaurants!

  Starts from $80 a night, coin-operated laundromat with dryer facilities in the basement. Detergent comes free, bring your own fabric softner if you need it.

• Deoksugunggil
  The small alley between Deoksugung (the Palace right in front of City Hall and the Seoul Plaza Hotel) and the Dunkin Donuts hides an amazing calm in the middle of Seoul. It’s a pleasant walk through towards the Chongdong Theatre amidst maple and gingko trees, the side wall of Deoksugung, and the people going to Church.

  Past the Franciscan Library you’ll find a cute little restaurant called Little Provence. It’s not too bad, fusion Korean, like cutesy Japanese-French. Spaghetti carbonara costs $8 and Kimchi Pilaf (kinda like Kimchi Fried Rice), $9.

  About 300m past Little Provence on the other side of the street you’ll find Gimbapgwamandusai, a quaint old-style Korean Restaurant where everything on the menu is between $2 and $5. Try the Gimbap, the mandu and the Kimchi mandu. They also make bibimbap if you need something ricey. It’s opposite a cafe, and they make Gimbap in the window.

• Bistro d°
  Famed for brunch, this little bistro is actually a showroom for the special kimchi refridgerators. Amazing. Anyway, after Heesun brought us there for dinner we had to go back.

  Noteworthy is the dinner Prix Fixe ($38) – pre-appetisers, appetiser, main course and dessert. For the main course you have a choice of Sirloin or Tenderloin. The sirloin is especially good, it comes encrusted with peppercorns and is done just right.

  I also had the Black Cod – really good. $18. Grilled black cod on a bed of veggies with a light herb cream sauce. Really good.

  And the Fishermans’ Pasta – $34, serves 2 according to the menu, but this platter of seafood pasta was enough to feed four Asians, and the helping of seafood on it – mussels, clams, fish, prawns, lobster, scallop – was really generous. I’m a sucker for marinaras, so this was my favourite.

  The pickled veggies were also really good appetisers.

Oh oh, check out neat food reviews (in English) of Korean Restaurants – Mary Eats.

All prices in USD. 1USD ~ 950 KRW. 1 SGD ~ 600 KRW

Despite the severe language impediment (which only stopped us from ordering food properly) it was easy to get around, easy to find stuff, easy to make arrangements for everything. It was a breeze.

Jeju on the other hand, was not quite what I expected. The resorts in the drama series made it look like a) the island was just resorts and b) it was as modern as Seoul. Strangely Jeju was more countryside, more laid back, but just as expensive! Probably because of the hoards of tourists trying to relive various All In moments. It was an adventure though, since most people at the wet markets didn’t speak any English or Chinese, and we had to get ourselves around the island by car.

All in all (hehee) Korea was a wonderful experience. The city works efficiently, the Seoul fall foliage is stunning, and Jeju has some of the most spectacular natural spots. The weather was mostly pleasant, except for the really cold day at the DMZ where the mercury dipped to under 10° C. Kimchi might be a bit too much every day, but you can still find a good selection of international cuisine to tide you by. And in Jeju, you can just eat at the hotel.

That said, the city is expensive and meals in general would cost as much as a meal in the US. It was terribly hard to find $2-3 dishes, although we managed to find a spot or two through the Lonely Planet guide. Decent accomodation will cost minimally $70 a night in Seoul (the Co-op came up to just under $100 a night) and even then it’s not the best thing ever. The luxury hotels will cost you easily $200 a night and the regular 4 star one around $150.

Oh oh, check out neat food reviews (in English) of Korean Restaurants – Mary Eats.

All prices in USD. 1USD ~ 950 KRW. 1 SGD ~ 600 KRW

It would seem that I expected too much.

It’s been a fantastic four days in Seoul. The city is lovely – the autumn colours are fantastic, and their choice of trees that line the street are great – maple and gingko. Right now everything’s a lovely hue of yellow, light green, orange, brown and flaming red. It’s a beautiful city.

It’s been really easy to get around. Armed with the right map (subway map, and a general direction one rolled in one was a great investment – thank you Insight Guide) and a little EQ, getting around has been a snap. Even when people don’t understand you, there are loads of solutions around that. Transportation is relatively cheap – probably similar rates to Singapore, except in USD.

Food has also been good – besides being overloaded on kimchi and selling of garlic. It’s been the most tricky figuring out food – because some menus don’t have English on it. But most of the stores we’ve been to have pictures, and in the tourist districts they’ve pictures. At the very worst, the storekeepers will whip out their mandarin, and everything’s fine.

Besides being on the small side (it’s like someone’s room), the hotel has been great. Not in the best part of town, but it’s right next to the subway, near the Dongdaemun market, malls and loads of food. It’s not a five star hotel, though. They only give you one towel, they don’t exactly offer the frills like a mint on your pillow or free toilettries (besides soap), and it’s kinda small; the bathroom is a 1.5×1.5m cube. But if you can get past that, the upside is great location, a kitchenette with microwave, utensils and a fridge, a coin laundry downstairs, and a daily rate under US$100 a night, which is a steal in Seoul.

My total loot this time: munchies – not a lot, a scarf and 4 souvenirs from Doraesan Station at the DMZ. The rest was spent on visits, transport and food.

The guys are reasonably good looking though they’re mostly the younger ones.

Yesterday we went to Seoul Tower and it snowed. It was lovely. So today when we went to the DMZ tour we really bundled up and good thing we did. It was freezing. So the scarf came in really handy.

We managed to see a lot, experience a lot, and eat a ton. Hanging out with Heesun was great too, she brought us to places that would’ve been hard to get to on our own, so that was great.

Tomorrow we head over to Cheju. More from the volcanic island later!

Korea has been really kind to us. We’re getting by with very little korean, but it’s been unexpectedly easy. Most shopkeepers we’ve met speak to us in mandarin (when japanese fails), which is great.

We saw two palaces – the pic above is from Gyeongbukgong, but the Biwon one we visited yesterday is so much prettier. We even ran into some Singaporeans there.

And in the afternoon we hung out with Heesun, who very kindly brought us around Insadong, which is very cool. We ended off the night with dinner at a really good Italian restaurant in an cool, hip area (forgot what it was called) south of the Han River.

Suffice to say, I’m liking it so far.

In other news, yahoo is now being referred to as a stodgy old internet company. Ahh, to think it’s come this far to be referred as thus. And while there is fretting going on over how its viewed on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, there is crap going on in pockets of the world closer to home.

Stuff like Channel News Asia’s Blog TV.

I’ve one word for them, which I’ll repeat a couple of times. And because I’m feeling generous today, I’ll throw in a freebie.

Ha ha ha… plop!

Just when you think the internet can’t get any dumber, a tv station will go in, and redefine stupidity for you.

And that’s why, you gotta love the internet.

If there are three Korean Dramas you have to watch – besides the flaky funny love stories I succumb to for the eye candy – these are it:

1. Fashion 70s: set during the Korean War, about a pair of girls whose lives were switched.
2. Lawyers: has my favourite Kim Sung Soo in it as a diabolical lawyer who is more than he appears to be.
3. All In: stars my favourite Korean of the week, LBH. He’s way hot for an old guy, but he’s got that low maintenance look that is rare in a Korean film star.

Ah hah! Looks like Lee Byung Hun speaks English. And pretty well too. That gives him another 10 points in my little black book.

Speaking of books, I’m convinced that 40% of a book’s success is it’s title. Honestly. Thats why no one wants to read something called A Book on C/C++ but everyone would want to read something called Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Similarly, who’d read something like Short stories: All the Stories I Failed to Complete, when you’ve stuff like Angels and Visitations, Smoke and Mirrors and now, Fragile Things.

Love Neil Gaiman. Now I just have to go home and figure out if I’ve already got Angels and Visitations before I order it again.

And surely.

This time, it’s All In. It’s definitely soapy, but what I found pretty amazing was that it was based on a true story. That means some guy led a pretty exciting life! Of course he probably doesn’t look as good as Lee Byung Hun. He’s pretty hot!

Add to that his sweetheart is Song Hye Gyo. That’s a good enough formula to keep anyone glued to the telly.

The drama is set partially in Jeju, so there are some particularly beautiful scenes. Now I’m really looking forward to vacationing there.

Apparently the Koreans have kinda weird habits, I haven’t really paid much attention to it though. I have noticed that they will wait for their elders to sit first before they do.

Anyway. Going back to my drama. It’s getting way exciting.

So finally, because of Jung Woo Sung, I decided to watch Musa once and for all. Zhang Ziyi notwithstanding, it was really a good movie.

You can probably read the synopsis somewhere else, so I’ll be brief. A small Korean delegation – diplomats and a small army – are sent to China to establish ties with the Ming dynasty King. Thwarted, on the way home to Korea they run into a Mongolian army which has kidnapped a Ming princess. They decide to rescue her and send her back to Nanjing to the King to complete their mission. Needless to say, when you piss off the Mongolian army by stealing their prize, lots of blood ensues.

What I like about this movie is that it isn’t a superficial, vacuous visual treat. It’s not a lush, complicated narrative. It’s an honest account. It’s no-frills, but full of human emotion.

My Korean favourites are changing week to week, and Jang Woo Sung is hunk du-jour. He plays Yeo-sol, a slave in the contingent, who is freed, albeit in the middle of nowhere. He hardly says two lines in the movie, but he doesn’t really have to. His loyalty and simple devotion was contrasted with Ju Jin Mo’s arrogant General Choi, who slowly loses his grip on the delegation. Ahn Sung Kee is the experienced advisor of the support delegation, and he was like a Gandalf in the movie. The voice of reason, the voice of security.

You can tell where the lines are drawn, the Korean cast seemed have a camraderie that showed up on screen. Even though their characters were fighting among themselves, they seemed to hold it together internally, like it was them against the world. It was awesome.

The other thing I liked about the movie was that there was no one super shining star of the movie. The characters were flawed, real and still believeable. The ensemble made the movie work. The theme of duty and brotherhood are not the most popular with Hollywood movies, but it pretty much underpins most Asian movies. And true to that, they didn’t glorify any one person. Every one of the characters made the movie the rich, compelling story it was.

The other thing I liked about the movie, was the honesty they accorded the opposition. Mr Iron Monkey, Yu Rongguang played the Mongolian general who was hell-bent on capturing the Princess and bringing her back to Mongolia to fulfil the legacy of his predecessor and bring hope and honour to his people back home. You don’t hate the men in the film, you just end up wishing life wasn’t so complicated.

So in all, I really liked this movie. In my books, it’s right up there with Joint Security Area. I’m a little disappointed that the Zhang Yimou’s Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and Chen Kaige’s The Promise fall short compared to Musa, not because their technology was inferior, but mostly because they felt it necessary to overcompensate for Crouching Tiger and take the visual appeal highway, resulting in a bunch of flight attendant movies.

I’m still waiting for that one iconic Chinese movie. I’m hoping it won’t take too long.